Pipeline to God
Chapter 5 from Harold Sherman's book, "How to Know What to Believe"
1976

While every incident
and experience in this chapter is true, as reported, we have decided to
give fictitious names to the book and to those directly concerned and to
let the story speak for itself, illustrating as it does the fallacy of accepting
any so-called "revelation," however received or supported by sincere believers,
as the "infallible word of God."

Today there are many
"spiritual" leaders who have attracted large followings and who profess
to be inspired by God or Jesus or other Celestial Beings, even representing
themselves as new messiahs.
This chapter, describing our personal experiences, is characteristic of
many, demonstrating as it does the opportunity that always exists for human
editing, human error, and sometimes deliberate falsification.

-Martha and Harold
Sherman

I have received scores
of manuscripts (and continue to receive the same) from people who felt they
had been chosen as special agents of God to be channels for the reception
of spiritual knowledge. Many had aroused great anticipation in us but had only
ended, upon examination, in disappointment.

Somehow
Martha and I felt that this project in Chicago was different--that it was, at
last, what had been claimed for it: A true revelation, presented by a Corps
of Higher Intelligences, designed to "serve humanity's needs for the next thousand
years."

Undoubtedly,
it was Harry's feeling for it that had conditioned us. Our close association
with him and our confidence in his own demonstrated higher powers of consciousness
had caused us to accept the New Revelation manuscript, sight unseen, as something
really super.

Through
Harry's former connection as detective at Hull House, we had made arrangements
with the attorneys in charge of the estate to permit me to dramatize the life
of Jane Adams, world renowned Social Settlement woman, which gave us the excuse
to come to Chicago in May of 1942 after having written the screenplay on the
life of Mark Twain for Warner Brothers.

At a time
in my writing career when practicality dictated that I should have taken advantage
of the recognition and opportunity that had come to me on the coast, we might
have stayed on in Hollywood and continued to write
for pictures. Certainly it would have been much
more lucrative than the gamble of this new creative assignment, but we were
willing to put everything else aside.

Not only
that, but to free our minds as much as possible for concentration on the massive
New Revelation manuscript, we sent our younger daughter, Marcia, to stay with
relatives in Traverse City, Michigan, for the summer, and our older daughter,
Mary, to a position as receptionist at Hull House. We had been told it would
require a number of months to thoughtfully go through the manuscript once, and
as a consequence, we mapped out a schedule of four to five hours reading a day.

How much Harry knew about
what we were to encounter,
we perhaps will never know. He had been careful not to "color" in advance any
impressions we might have of the Great Book and the people behind it by any
comments he might make while in our presence.

In retrospect, he must have
been aware of things
that were happening to the manuscript in its preparation, which was not going
"according to plan" or as originally intended. What he may have thought that
we or anyone could do about certain practices, which, if discovered, would need
correction for protection of the integrity of the material, is likewise an open
question.

With this
build-up we had received, we were totally unprepared for our entrance upon one
of the most challenging periods of our lives--a period that would test our mental
and physical endurance to the utmost, as well as our faith in human nature.

It should
be stated here that Martha and I had stopped off in Chicago in July of 1941,
en route to Hollywood, to meet Dr. Henry P. Norton, noted psychiatrist, at which
time we were accepted as Forum members upon signing a pledge of secrecy. This
permitted us to return to Chicago, when possible, to read the New Revelation
papers on the premises, but we were not allowed to mention or discuss them with
anyone outside the Forum members until The New Revelation Book itself was published.

The contact
with Dr. Norton and the New Revelation papers had been arranged by phone by
his cousin, Mrs. Susan Saunders of Marion, Indiana, who, with her doctor husband,
Herbert, had engaged in psychic research with us during the time we had lived
in Marion in the early 1920s.

Later,
when we arrived on the coast and told Harry we had joined up in Chicago with
those in charge of the Great Book manuscript, which he had written us about,
Harry was delighted. It
was perhaps because of my profession as a writer, the recent Mark Twain work,
and the reputation that had come to me, through
the experiment in long distance telepathy with the Arctic Explorer, Sir Hubert
Wilkins, that the presence of Martha and myself in Chicago to study the New
Revelation papers caused quite a stir among Forum members.

This gave
us an immediate personal contact with the doctor and his secretary, Miss Cynthia
Frederick (Cindy), and members of the doctor's family: His son, Henry Junior,
and his son's wife, Loretta; a brother-inlaw and wife, Alfred and Lucy Buxton.
There was also the financier Raymond Stafford, with his wife, his son, Ray Junior,
and wife, Marjory.

It was
somewhat embarrassing for us to be placed in such a favored position at the
outset against so many oldtime members, especially at social occasions when
we were invited to sit at the great man's table. However, all members seemed
to accept any mandate of the doctor without question or complaint.

As new
members, Martha and I had to do a vast amount of "catch-up" reading, which necessitated
our spending some hours in the library of the three-story brick building each
day. The papers were brought to us from the vault in typewritten form by Cindy,
in. chronological order--ninety-two in all--and it required almost three months
for the entire New Revelation manuscript to be completed, with Martha and I
reading it together. We were told that the original script had been burned after
typed copies had been made to preserve the anonymity as well as the identity
of the human instrument through whom the "revelations" had come.

On August
20, our friends H. C. and Mary Mattem (real names) came through Chicago on their
annual tour of big city firms for which they did the cleaning and preserving
of leather-upholstered office furniture. We had planned to introduce them to
Dr. Norton on their arrival and to arrange for their membership in the New Revelation
Forum.

It was an evening
appointment, and we found the doctor to be in an unusually amiable, talkative
mood, disposed to give us a more complete version of the origin of the papers
than we had ever heard before or since. As soon as the long session was over,
Martha and I crossed the street to our apartment in the Rutledge Hotel and worked
into the early morning to make a detailed written record of the information
that the doctor had imparted.

"About
thirty-five years ago when Dr. Ruth [his wife] and I were young physicians together,
we decided to move, but the place we had in mind was not yet available. We were
directed to a furnished apartment in the neighborhood, which we took for several
months until our place was ready.

"We had
been there about two weeks, and some of the tenants had apparently learned we
were physicians, because one of them, a woman living directly below us, rapped
on our door about 11:00 PM as we were in the
act of retiring. She said, 'Will you please come downstairs with me? Something
has happened to my husband. He's gone to sleep; he's breathing very strangely,
and I can't wake him up.'

"We slipped
on our bathrobes and went down to her apartment, where I saw a medium-sized
man, approaching middle age, asleep in bed, breathing very fitfully. He would
take a couple of short, quick breaths and then would hold his breath for a time,
long enough for any normal human to have gotten black in the face, but nothing
happened. I took his pulse and was surprised to find it was normal. I then tried
to arouse him with every known method, even to sticking pins in him-but failed.
His wife seemed to be a somewhat nervous and superstitious type. She was frankly
frightened, even though I assured her that he seemed to be in good physical
shape, despite his peculiar actions.

"We sat
about and waited for him to return to consciousness, during which time his body
gave several violent
jumps and starts. Finally, after about an hour, he awoke and looked around and
saw us. We had propped him up on pillows, and he now turned to his wife and
asked, pointing at us, 'Who are these people?' She explained that we were doctors
she had called in when she found she couldn't awaken him, and he said, 'What's
wrong? What's happened?'

"I asked
him 'How do you feel? He said, 'I feel fine.' I said, 'What have you been dreaming
about?' He said, 'I haven't been dreaming at all.' I said, 'You've been jumping
about on the bed.' He said, 'I don't know anything about that. I can't understand
it.'

"I made
him promise that he would come to my office the following morning for a complete
physical exam. This he did, and I gave him every test but found him to be in
excellent physical shape. I got his family history, and there were no cases
of insanity or epilepsy among any of his antecedents or present relatives. In
my investigation of psychic phenomena I had witnessed many so-called trance
states, but this phenomenon he experienced seemed to be something different.
Most of the trance cases I had contacted were those of emotionally unstable
or hysterical women. But here was a hard-boiled business man, member of the
board of trade and stock exchange, who didn't believe in any of this nonsense
and who had no recollection of what happened during these strange unwakeable
sleep states.

"I told
him I would like to keep him under observation, to which he readily agreed.

"Nothing
happened for several weeks, and then, one night, about the same time, his wife
called us and said he was having one of those spells again. We went down, and
I gave him some more tests and tried new ways to rouse him--all without effect.
His labored breathing, his sudden breaking off and then no breathing at all
would have been alarming had not his pulse remained strong and even throughout.
The whole, thing was baffling. When he awakened,
he was, as before, unconscious of anything having transpired.

"This sort
of experience was repeated at different times of night until the fall of the
year, when we were able to move to the residence of our choice. This man's lease
expired that same fall, and he moved into an apartment house in the same block
so he could be near us.

"One night,
when we were called to his new address, as we sat by the bedside, Dr. Ruth noticed
that he was moistening his lips as though he were preparing to speak. She said,
'Perhaps he wants to talk to us. Maybe if we ask him a question, we'll get an
answer.'

"She did
so, and to our great astonishment he did reply; but it was not his voice. It
was that of what we afterward learned to be a student visitor on an observation
trip here from a far distant planet! This being apparently conversed with us
through this sleeping subject and expressed ideas and philosophies which struck
us as entirely new.

"I had
been led to believe, through previous study and research, that all such manifestations,
however phenomenal, were the work of the subconscious. I therefore got this
man in my office several days later, since other entities were apparently coming
through him, and secured his permission to submit to hypnotism that I might
explore his subconscious. It was difficult to get him under, but when I finally
did so, I was amazed to find no consciousness whatsoever of the subjects discussed
by these purported beings, which we had all, by this time, started to record
in long hand and later combined.

"I now
felt that I needed help in solving the causes behind this mysterious phenomenon,
and I called in other doctors and scientists, friends of mine, as well as Houdini
and Thurston. They were equally unable to furnish any explanation. Finding by
now that we could communicate by direct voice with different student
visitors and other beings, we began to look forward to each 'contact,'
as wecame to
call them, and enjoy the opportunity of asking questdons, which always brought
the most stimulating and unexpected answers.

"We took
to writing out questions in advance about the universe and asking them verbally
whenever given the chance. Finally, as a test, I worked out fifty-two questions
privately and memorized them in my own mind [the doctor was noted for a photographic
memory], deciding to wait and see whether these so-called student visitors
might be able to divine what was in my own consciousness.

"One night,
a particularly electrifying personality seemed to be present from a distant
planet and had greatly excited us by his comments. As he was about to go, I
addressed him, saying, 'How can you prove that you are who you say you are?'
He replied, 'I cannot prove--but you cannot prove that I am not.' He then stunned
me by continuing, 'However, I have just received permission to answer forty-six
of the fifty-two questions you have been holding in your mind.'

"'Dr. Ruth
spoke up and said, 'Why, Henry, you haven't any such questions, have you?' And
I had to admit, 'Yes, Ruth, the exact numberl'

"This personality
then proceeded to give me the answer to the forty-six as promised. When he had
finished, he said, 'If you people really knew what you had here, you wouldn't
take up our time asking silly, trivial questions like this. You would ask us
something really significant and important.'

"We got
home around one-thirty that night, but there was no sleep in the Norton household.
We stayed up the rest of the night discussing and formulating questions so that
we might be prepared for the next contact.

"At this
point I must go back and tell you that a few months previously I had made a
lecture trip to the University of Kansas; and while there, I wrote a letter
to my son, Henry,
suggesting that since we seldom went to church, though I often talked in churches,
I thought it would be a good idea if he and his mother would consider inviting
in regularly for Sunday afternoon tea, about twenty or thirty friends with whom
we might discuss religion or any other subject of mutual interest, and perhaps
I would give them a little talk to stimulate these discussions. When I returned
home the following Sunday noon, I found Dr. Ruth and Henry had already acted
upon my suggestion and were having about thirty people in that afternoon. This
was about the first of October, 1923, as I recall.

"It was
in November that I was asked by some members of this little social group, which
we had come to call the Forum, if I wouldn't tell of some of my experiences
in abnormal psychology. And since we had not been prohibited from talking about
the phenomena we had been witnessing, I related to them my encounter with this
sleeping subject and the strange communications we were receiving through
him, and told of our being challenged to ask real questions. It suddenly occurred
to me as I got to this point--why not enlist the services of this group in the
asking of such questions, and I called upon them to help me. I said, 'Come back
next Sunday with all the profound questions you can think of, having to do with
God and the universe, and we'll see if these intelligences can answer them.'

"The following
Sunday the group arrived with over four thousand questions! Dr. Ruth
and I spent several days sorting and classifying them. Then we held them in
readiness, hoping for the opportunity of 'calling the bluff' of the higher intelligences.
We, were, as we thought, 'loaded for bear.'

"Some weeks
went by and nothing happened. We thought we had them stumped, and then one moming
at 6:00 A.M.,
the phone rang. It
was the man's wife calling, 'Come over, quickl' she said. 'What's happened?'
I asked.
'Is he still asleep?' 'Yes, but that's not it,' she replied. 'Please get over
here-hurry!'

We dressed
like volunteer firemen and arrived out of breath. She led us to the desk in
his study and picked up a voluminous manuscript of 472 pages, written
in his own hand. I said, 'Where did this come from?' She said, 'I don't know.
He made some strange noises in his sleep and woke me up, and I saw it here on
the desk.' I asked, 'Has he been out of bed?' She said, 'Not to my knowledge.
I don't see how he could have gotten out without waking me--and he's not awake
yet.' I said, 'Is this his handwriting?'
She said, 'It's his handwriting all right--but I don't see how he could have
done it.'

"I took
a look at the manuscript and saw to my great astonishment that it was the answer
to all of the questions that had been formulated by ourselves in our Forum group!

"I couldn't
wait any longer. I took this bulky manuscript into the bedroom and wakened.
the subject. I said, 'Do you know what you have been doing in your sleep?' He
said, 'I haven't been doing anything.' I said, 'Oh, yes, you have--look at this!
Isn't this your handwriting?' He stared at the manuscript. 'Yes, it's my handwriting,'
he identified, 'but I didn't do it.'

"I estimated
that it would take a normal individual seven to eight hours, writing at top
speed, and the subject matter was so profound and yet so intelligently set down
that I knew it was beyond human capacity to achieve. I phoned Cindy and told
her to bring over at once a 'grip device' for testing muscular fatigue. I reasoned
if he had physically written all this, his right arm would give evidence of
it--but the device registered no fatigue whatsoever.

"We took
the papers home and had them typed. They concerned the Universal Father, the
Supreme Being, The Central and Super Universes, and the Isle of Paradise. It
was an unforgettable oocasion when I appeared before the Forum group and announced,
'Well, we got the.answers to our questions all right, and they sat awestruck
and speechless as we read the papers to them. This was all we needed. Reading
of these papers led to hundreds and thousands more questions, and more papers
commenced coming through.

"We found,
there seemed to be an organized group of high intelligences on 'the other side,'
prepared to present to us the whole astounding story of the universe, leading
from God, the Universal Father, down to the origin of the human creature, man,
and his ultimate glorious destiny beyond the reaches of time and space.

"This continued
for perhaps seven or eight years when what we considered the first edition of
the papers was finished. At that time, the Forum received its first direct message,
and its members were advised that now, since their knowledge had been expanded,
they should be able to ask more intelligent questions and that if they would
do so, as they commenced a re-reading of each paper, these intelligences would
completely revise the entire, tremendous manuscript.

"This job
was finished about two to two and a half years ago, and again we all thought
the manuscript was finally complete; but we were told, at this time, that the
world events for which this revelation was designed were rapidly culminating
[this was in 1939 before Hitler started his assault on the countries of Europe],
and we would begin to see that those who had this revelation in charge did not
intend to make it public until after the Second World War.

"It was
finally decided by those controlling transmission of The New Revelation Bookto permit seventy-five papers giving a detailed and comprehensive account
of Jesus' life on earth, from His birth to His death, to be added. The book
is eventually to be published without any human personalities to be identified
with it in any way and no authorship ascribed to it. These higher beings have refused
to use their own names and have only specified their type of being in
the universe.

"There
are only a few ofus still living who were in touch with this phenomenon
in the beginning, and when we die, the knowledge of it will die with us. Then
the book will exist as a great spiritual mystery, and no human will know the
manner in which it came about."

Different Forum members had
heard different versions concerning the origin ofthe papers. One of
them was to the effect that a young stockbroker, name withheld, was found by
his wife sitting at his writing table in his bedroom one night in a trance state,
simultaneously writing two different papers of deep philosophic content, one
with each hand. The wife, unable to rouse him, phoned their friend, a psychiatrist,
who arrived in time to witness the psychic phenomenon, and who read the stack
of typewriter-sized pages that had been pushed off onto the floor, sheet by
sheet.

Impressed
as well as mystified, the doctor expressed the opinion that some passing psychic
influence had taken possession of the sleeping subject, and it would probably
never happen again--but if it did, he was to be called. A few nights later,
this phenomenon reoccurred, and the amazed doctor was told that he was to be
the custodian of this incoming material, which was beyond the knowledge of the
human instrument; and that a book, which would startle the world, was to be
dictated by higher intelligences.

Thus began
a strange and dramatic human saga which started in 1911 and continued for almost
half a century, with paper after paper of this voluminous manuscript appearing,
each containing a chapter describing the nature of creation and the unthinkably
great God behind it; the Seven Super Universes in which were countless inhabited
planets; various classifications of beings, including guardian angels and ending
up with a new life of Jesus, one of numberless Creator
Sons who had the power to create worlds and all life thereon.

Some one
to two hundred fascinated Forum members, exposed to these papers, one by one
each week, were purportedly observed in the Invisible by the higher intelligences
who had dictated the material, their reactions studied, and papers edited accordingly
if some sections were not apparently understood. In any event, papers were corrected
from time to time, and sometimes magically appeared, they were told, even typed,
on the desk in the doctor's office.

We observed
that the Forum members accepted these stories without question. This blind acceptance
of everything associated with the New Revelation made it difficult for Martha
and me to properly evaluate the New Revelation material. As we became acquainted
with more and more Forum members, they confided that after the death of the
doctor's wife, Dr. Ruth, they had noticed a growing tendency for the doctor
to be irascible and adamant whenever anyone associated with him showed indications
of not conforming to his thoughts and ideas. They said he could be agreeable
and even charming at times, until he felt himself to be crossed in any way or
questioned about his conduct of the New Revelation affairs. We were to have
ample evidence of this developing side of his nature as time went on.

One of
our basic observations that really disturbed us, after finishing a first reading
of the papers, was the fact that The New Revelation Book purported to
give a specific description of the
appearance and nature of the physical universe but presented no program for
individual spiritual development.

We wondered
what service to humanity a book could be--however profound and expansive with
its precise mathematical statements of numbers of planets and universes and
various classifications of intelligent beings--if it did not deal with the mind
qualities of human creatures and how they
could be employed to advance their soul development on earth.

True, an
entire section was devoted to a description of a neutral entity called a "Thought
Controller," which the Creator supposedly assigned to dwell in each human consciousness,
and whose duty it was to sort out the thoughts and deeds of the individual and
help him develop "survival values." If this happened, the "TC," as it was abbreviated,
took on personality and survived along with its "host." If the entity had not
lived a sufficiently "good" life, the "TC" was then free to dwell in some
other human consciousness at birth, carrying over the now nonexistent entity's
experiences for use by the new "host" to give him a running start on possible
survival. On this basis, the individual could not accomplish survival on his
own and was dependent on this in-dwelling influence.

Martha
and I could not accept this. We could accept the concept, which we had
long believed, that a part of God, the Great Intelligence, does dwell
in each human soul, and that man can become aware of this Higher Power within
him through right thinking and meditation, and secure guidance and protection
by adherence to the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual laws of his being.

The more
we thought about The New Revelation Book, the more we came up with more
questions than answers. Since we had social access to the Nortons father and
son, we took our questions to them, sometimes in written form. Henry Junior,
like his father, had a photographic memory and could discourse on different
chapters of the book, quoting them at length.

Some of the questions we raised
were:

1. Why, with the detailed
description of super beings
and lines of communication existing between planets,
was there no chapter in the book which explained the psychic phenomena
taking place on earth?

2.How did it happen that the Jesus Papers "came through" after the book itself
was announced as completed--a book which had made no mention of Jesus as such?

3. Why,
since the knowledge was supposed to be universal, applicable to all humanity,
did it limit its scope and appeal and interpretation by adding a "new life of
Jesus," tying it in with the Christian religion, after The New Revelation
Book was declared "finished" as of 1934?

Martha and I received no satisfactory answer to these questions. Instead, Dr.
Norton characteristically showed a flare of temper, to which we now had become
accustomed, when any member asked him a question he considered impertinent or
uncalled for.

Had it
not been for our great and overwhelming interest in the New Revelation papers
at the time, we would not have persisted. The interest of all Forum members
had been heightened by the doctor's telling us in recent Forum sessions that
we should be thinking and preparing for a time in the fall when he had been
instructed to surrender his custodianship of the New Revelation project to the
Forum. When this happened, we must assume the responsibility for the financing,
publication, and distribution of The New Revelation Book.

One night
we invited Cindy to our apartment as a dinner guest. During the evening we quite
naturally discussed The New Revelation Book. I pointed out to her that
when it would be published, people would wonder why no mention was made of telepathy
or other psychic phenomena as a preparation for the existence of such powers
in higher realms. Then came the "shocker." Cindy said she agreed with my contention,
and since Sir Hubert Wilkins and I, as a result of our thought transference
tests, had perhaps as much knowledge as anyone, why didn't we write a chapter
explaining them. The doctor could submit our paper for consideration
of the "higher ups" and if
they okayed it, it could be inserted in The New Revelation Book!

"Why, I wouldn't
pretend to have the authoritative
knowledge that the intelligences behind this book have,"
I replied, trying to conceal my astonishment. "Why don't
you call this significant absence of needed connective material
to their attention and let them supply the information?"

Cindy indicated that they would think about it, and the subject was dropped.
But for Cindy to have made this suggestion clearly revealed that humanly written
insertions had been put in the manuscript, and later evidence came to light
when member Floyd Winters, one of Chicago's prominent businessmen, confronted
the doctor with extensive almost word-for-word quotes from author Emery Reeves'
well-known book, A Democratic Manifesto, which were contained in a New
Revelation chapter. The explanation: "Occasionally, when the intelligences dictating
the New Revelation papers come across something expressed on a subject by a
human, as well as -they could
express it, they authorize its inclusion."

As a result of this dilillusioning experience with Cindy, I felt I should make
one last attempt to impress Dr. Norton with the seriousness of the matter, so
I sent him a registered letter, hoping to command his personal attention. It
read as follows:

Dear Dr. Norton:

Some several
months after we came here and had carefully
read the New Revelation papers, I questioned you concerning the glaring
absence of any paper on "psychic phenomena"--such as humans have veriflably
experienced on earth in times past and are experiencing now. And yet the
book deals authoritatively with many phases of spiritual phenomena beyond
the grasp, sensing, and actual understanding ofaverage man.

Eventual readers of this great
document in public form
are going to be expected to accept the existence
of all these higher phenomena on faith. But, since man is an experiential
being, and we must consider him on the basis of his present development
and enlightenment, he is going to be sorely perplexed at finding no mention
or explanation of "psychic experiences" which he KNOWS he has had--which
give him evidence that TELEPATHY, under certain conditions, is a fact; that
there are such things as ASTRAL visitations on occasion; and that the so-called
DEAD are permitted to return on certain missions and under certain
circumstances. I am not talking spiritualism when I make this latter statement.

You decided, personally, long
years ago on your own admission to me, that there were no genuine phenomena
except that of the nature you had encountered with the "instrument" and
the other"'sleeping contacts" reported to you.

Millions of humans now living
and still to be born will challenge this attitude as reflected in the pages
of The New Revelation Book, for too many "psychic experiences" are
occurring right along to which they can testify. And no scientist can laugh
these experiences off or explain them away.

It is a great error and will
arouse great controversy, confusion, and dissension for The New Revelation
Book to indicate positively that no one can communicate with the dead
and that the dead, under no circumstances, can or do return to this earth.
This is a deliberate wrong statement--an untruth--and cannot have been made
by higher intelligences, for they KNOW better. With The New Revelation
Book containing such false inferences, many humans who have had genuine
experiences are not going to know what sections of the book to believe or
disbelieve, and they are apt to end up by doubting it all.

I submitted a series of questions
covering the entire subject to "psychic phenomena" months ago. Were they
carefully gone over by you and the other "contact commissioners" and presented
for consideration and possible answering in the former regular manner, or
were they pigeon-holed arbitrarily by you because you have a set human conviction
that none of the "psychic phenomena" are actually existent?

Have you, by your attitude, altered
or excluded anymaterial
or truths which should be in this New Revelation Book?

You know, in your own mind and
heart, the steps you have taken which have not been authorized by higher
intelligences. You will have to answer for each one of these steps ... but
there is still time for you to clear up much.

It should hardly be necessary
for me to remind you that, if any material intended for The New Revelation
Book has been withheld or wrongly interpreted or purposely misunderstood
or altered for personal or biased reasons, or because of a "closed mind"
attitude--you will be held responsible as trusted custodian for centuries
yet to come.

My only interest, as always,
is in the purity, unadulterated genuineness, and complete authenticity of
The New Revelation Book. I shall know, and others will know, if when
it is published, any of the papers have been tampered with for any human
reason whatsoever.

Sincerely, (signed)
Harold Sherman

This communication,
addressed to the doctor, brought no reply. But Martha and I were in for another
disturbing factor when, upon reading the legal papers concerning the incorporation
of the New Revelation Society, we found provisions for a self-perpetuating board
of directors who never intended to give up custodianship, who could vote themselves
any salaries they wished, or invest any monies received
as desired, rather than putting the resources behind further exploitation and
publication of the book itself. These stipulations ran counter to the directions
purportedly received from the higher intelligences, as well as the assurances
the doctor had given the members who had already contributed monies to books
of his own that he had published, as well as toward the financing of the forthcoming New Revelation Book.

For a man with the
distinguished background of Dr. Norton, who was one of the great pioneer psychiatrists
of his day, an outstanding authority on comparative religions,
who presented theological seminars for assemblies of The United Protestant ministers,
it is readily understandable why he had been "chosen" as "custodian" by "higher
intelligences" in charge of the reception of these spiritual messages. Old-time
Forum members said that Dr. Ruth had been the "balance wheel" in this unusual
medical team, but with her passing, the doctor seemed to become less tolerant
and more impatient with Forum members who disagreed with him.

With the
closing down of the Sunday afternoon Forum meetings for the summer recess, the
doctor again announced that he was surrendering his custodianship at the first
fall session, which announcement was greeted with a fever of excitement and
anticipation. The membership-at-large could hardly wait for a gathering shortly
thereafter at the home of Ben and Beatrice Deane for the purpose of exchanging
thoughts and ideas.

At this
meeting I inquired if they knew, of course, that the charter for the New Revelation
Society did not permit any turnover of the custodianship, that it was held in
trust for the doctor, his family, and the Staffords, and that the rank-and-file
members actually had no voting control or participating rights. This was news
to all present, although some recalled the doctor having read the charter straight
through, when first drawn up, allowing no questions and calling for a vote of
approval, which was unhesitatingly given.

Floyd Winters,
one of the most active members, volunteered to go to the doctor's office, read
a copy of the charter, and report back.

Within
a week, the Deanes phoned Forum members and invited them to come to their home
again, stating that Winters had read the charter and had a report to make.

"Harold
was right," he said, "and I think something should be done about it."

He then
produced a petition to be presented to Dr. Norton, which he had personally drawn
up, based on some of the points
I had raised in my letter to the doctor. The petition was ready for signing.
It called in a friendly way for a discussion of the charter as a first order
of business when the Forum reconvened in the fall.

After some
discussion, the petition was passed around and all except Fred and Elsie Egbert
affixed their signatures.

"Come on,"
urged Winters. "Let's make it a hundred percent!" And the reluctant Egberts
signed.

Then a
volunteer committee of Larry Bolton, Ben Deane, and Nancy Dietrich was formed
to call upon the doctor and present the petition.

The Egberts
suffered pangs of conscience intermingled with fear as they contemplated what
they had done in putting their signatures on the petition. Tley didn't sleep
that night, and when morning came, they were of one mind--they must go to the
doctor and privately inform him of what was getting ready to happen.

The doctor
listened to the Egberts' account and told them they had "been moved to protect
the new revelation project by the higher intelligences," that they would be
rewarded for their actions, and that he was "now receiving instructions" as
to just how to handle this "uprising."

When the
committee of three arrived later that day, the, doctor surprised them by stating
that he knew what they were coming to see him about, that he had been "taken
out of his physical body the night before and transported to the Deane home
in his spirit form," where he "saw and listened to everything that was said
in the invisible."

He told
the astounded committee that it had been revealed to him that Harold Sherman
was "under the influence of Lucifer for the purpose of destroying this New Revelation
by planting the seeds of distrust and revolt in Forum minds." The doctor went
on to say that Martha Sherman was "an innocent dupe of this evil influence
manifesting through her husband," but that Sherman would be dealt with; and
that every Forum member whohad signed
this petition must come in, ask forgiveness, and personally scratch out his or her signature. Otherwise,
they would run the risk of excommunication, even loss of eternal life.

The committee members
retreated in utter confusion
and bewilderment, leaving the signed petition in the doctors
keeping. He told them that every member who had
affixed his or her signature would be given a chance to
undo what he had done before a sentence would be pronounced
upon them.

Martha and I, situated in
the Rutledge Hotel across the
street, had previously been kept informed of all Forum
interests by various members. Knowing the time the committee
was to meet with the doctor, we awaited word as to
the outcome. It did not come. A day passed, then another,
no phone calls, complete silence from every front. We
finally phoned several members at whose homes we had
been dinner guests and had enjoyed the friendliest of relationships.
All we could learn was that "something terrible
happend," and that we would hear about it later,
probably from the doctor himself. No one was talking.

Finally
a telephone call from the hotel lobby. A woman
Forum member whom we had not yet met introduced, herself. "My name is Anna Gobler.
Could I come up and speak with you a moment?" She appeared to be in fifties,
soft-spoken, apparently deeply concerned.

"I've been
told some awful things about you, especially Mr. Sherman," she said. "I just
couldn't believe them, so I decided to come and see for myself."

Then she
informed us for the first time of what had occurred and the wrathful action
the doctor was now taking. Cindy had been phoning and setting up appointments
with each Forum member, at fifteen-minute intervals all day and into the night,
and the doctor had been telling Forum. members individually of the attempted
"Lucifer rebellion." Each had been required to ask forgiveness, then take his
or her name off the petition, following
which the women members had received a kiss from the doctor as a "symbol" of
their "forgiveness." The great majority of the signers were bowing to this decree.
Mrs. Clobler said that she, herself, had taken her name off the petition, but
she didn't know why. But she refused to let the doctor kiss her--and told him
she would have to know more about both sides of this issue before she could
make up her mind. She went on to say that she had never met the Shermans; but
that they had seemed like nice, honorable people, and she found it hard to believe
that Mr. Sherman had been animated by the Lucifer spirit.

When she
told us that she knew of only four others of the entire group of signators who
had resisted the purported command from the spiritual authors of The New
Revelation Book to have nothing to do with the Shermans, we commended her
for her courage and forthrightness. Mrs. Gobler said Forum members were being
instructed to ostracize us completely, not to speak to us by phone or in person
or have anything to do with us directly or indirectly. We were to be treated
as though we didn't exist; and members were led to believe that they were being
spied upon in the invisible and that the doctor would be made aware of any infraction
of this mandate, which would result in their punishment.

By dealing
with the members singly, rather than facing them as a group, the doctor was
able to exercise his authority without challenge, and each was given to understand
that when all names had been expunged from the petition,
the doctor would call.in Harold and Martha
Sherman and dispose of them in line with special instructions from higher sources.

Mrs. Gobler
went on to say that Forum members, talking among themselves, privately referred
to Dr. Norton as "the little Pope," and his specially selected "board of control"
as the "Vatican," but all admitted their helplessness in speaking out against
his rule, however such a protest might be justified. "We've got to go along
with him, like it or not,"
Floyd Winters conceded. "I don't know what to make of his charges of Sherman
being animated by the spirit of Lucifer, but maybe the doctor has access to
knowledge not possible to us. He's certainly taking radical action, and he told
me that he had been instructed not to turn over the custodianship at the fall
meeting--that until the Lucifer rebellion had been put down, the destiny of
the New Revelation project was in peril and needed every protection."

It required
a little over a week for every Forum member who had signed the petition to be
contacted and put through the ritual of removing their signatures. Then, Dr.
Norton had announced, it would be the Shermans turn to "face judgment."

When Cindy
phoned us, Martha answered. She was crying as she told her that we were to see
the doctor at four o'clock that afternoon without fail. Martha assured her that
we would be there.

At the
fateful hour of four, we were ushered into the presence of the "great man" by
Cindy, who gave evidence of being under high nervous tension, The doctor sat
in the meeting room., his short, pudgy frame giving the impression of a "little
Napoleon," as he gazed at us severely through thick-lensed glasses. He held
some note papers in his hand, containing penciled scribbling.

"Sit down!"
he ordered, waving the papers. "What I have to say applies mostly to Harold.
I was told before Susan Saunders sent you to us, to 'beware of a writer who
will make application to join the New Revelation Society because he might be
under the influence of Lucifer, without his knowledge, and might try to disrupt
the Forum'

The doctor
then referred to the notes, which he said he had made at the time and put in
his file and never thought of again until this incident occurred. He said he
had never even told Cindy of this happening until now. He then implied that
Harold needed psychiatric treatment to free him from this
Lucifer influence and expressed sympathy
for Martha who should be relieved to have Harold's mental
condition corrected.

Martha and I looked at one
another, and we both stood
up at the same time.
"We don't believe a word of this!" I challenged. "Do
you mean to say you would have had a warning from
higher intelligences in whom you profess to have such
faith, and would have forgotten it, and not immediately
associated it with us when we appeared on the scene? Those notes you made were
all phony!" With this we walked
out.

It was mid-surnmer
by this time, and in the weeks that
followed few members got in touch with us; and if any
chanced to see us on the street, they hastened to the other
side or turned in the opposite direction to avoid any possible
confrontation. At one time, I boarded a bus and saw
John Grigsby seated at the other end. I moved towards him, and when John
saw me coming, he leaped up and
jumped off the bus with abject terror in his face. It was
clearly evident that most Forum members had been completely
dominated by fear.

What should or could we do about it? Should we fold
up our tent and quietly steal away, or should we remain,
attend the Forum meeting in the fall, and challenge the
doctor to make his charges against us in public so we
could answer them? Would this prove to the Forum
members that they, themselves, should not fear the doctor
or anything he or his higher powers could do to them, and
perhaps bring the members to their senses, cause them to
realize how ridiculous and false this whole procedure
was?

After thoughtful deliberation,
we decided to remain
and face the issue, even though almost everyone had been
turned against us and we know the doctor was confident
we would not dare show up again on his premises. This ostracism was
his conceived method of driving us away and ridding the Forum and The New
Revelation Book of the Lucifer menace. We could tell from the frightened
and apprehensive attitudes of the Forum members that they were expecting some
awful fate to befall us at any moment, even to the point of our being annihilated.

However,
something happened to me about this time which gave Dr. Norton and Forum members
a severe jolt. I was contracted by the Goldblatt Brothers Department Stores
to present a radio series six nights a week over Chicago Tribune station
WGN, based on my book Your Key to Happiness, which I had presented over
the CBS radio network in New York City some years before. This made me a well-known
personality in the Chicago area and the personal-philosophy, question-and-answer
program proved highly popular, breaking all mail return records.

The eventful day for the
reopening of the Forum meetings finally arrived. Meeting time was always three
o'clock sharp when Dr. Norton would enter and take his position, a New Revelation
paper in hand, ready for reading. While the Forum members were coming in, the
doctor often followed a routine of standing at the top of the stairs, on the
landing, with his secretary, Cindy, welcoming and shaking hands with the arrivals.

Just inside
the door, on the lower level, it was usually the custom of the doctor's brother-in-law,
Alfred Buxton, to take his stand. Anyone who didn't belong, who might have thought,
with people going in, that this was a public meeting,
could thus be screened out.

Five minutes
before the starting time of three o'clock, most of the Forum members already
present, we made our appearance. As we entered the door, Mr. Buxton gave us
a startled, unbelieving look and fled up the stairs to carry the news of our
arrival to the doctor.

As we mounted the stairs, we
caught a glimpse of the doctor hastily retreating from the stair landing, followed by Cindy and Mr.
Buxton, seeking to avoid direct contact.

As we stepped
inside the small auditorium itself, we saw astonished Forum members wondering
where we would elect to sit. We glimpsed a row with only two people in it, halfway
back, two seats on the aisle, to which we headed. The Forummembers in
this row quickly vacated, so we had the whole row for ourselves. No one spoke;
they looked toward the doctor, who was up front, as though expecting him to
take some sort of barring action, but this was a situation that the doctor didn't
know how to handle at the moment.

The reading
of the New Revelation paper began. Dr. Norton's hands shook as he read; he glanced
uneasily from time to time at his audience and particularly at us. Things weren't
working out as he had planned. He knew now that he hadn't been able to intimidate
us. We were still alive and well and unafraid of him. This was a challenge to
his entire authority.

When intermission
time arrived and the doctor prepared to leave the room, I stood up and addressed
him as startled Forum members seemed to freeze in their seats.
"Dr. Norton, you have made charges against me behind my back, which I am prepared
to answer. Will you now repeat these charges to my face?"

The doctor
looked as though he might be on the verge of a stroke.
"You cannot speak!" he shouted. "You are a guest in my house!"

For answer,
I left my row and walked to the front to take a position beside the frustrated
doctor. "I am innocent
of your charges and I demand the right to answer them!" I insisted. "Sit down--you can't speak--you
are a guest in my house. Sit down!" the doctor kept repeating.

At this point, the two husky
Herschel brothers, just back from military
service together, left their seats and
rushed forward, seizing me by the arms and shoulders.
"Shall we throw him out?" they said to the doctor.

Forum members were now in
an uproar. Some were begging Martha to urge her husband to stop--to go back
to his seat--before something awful happened. One man leaned over Martha's shoulder
and whispered, "Sit tightl"

Henry Junior,
the doctor's son, also of husky build, entered the scene threatening violence.
The doctor stood by, not knowing what to do or say, as I held my ground.

At this
critical moment, a new figure entered the picture. He came from the annex-type
room off at the side and was a new face to most Forum members. He was our friend,
H.C. Mattern, attending a Forum meeting for the first time, and we had not known
he was present.

"Take your
hands off that manl" he ordered, pushing the surprised Herschel brothers back
and stepping between Henry Junior and me. Then he grabbed me and pressed me
against the side wall so no one could get behind us.

"Not until
I know what this is all aboutl" said H.C. "But I know Harold Sherman, and if
he is trying to defend himself against whatever has been said about him, he
has a right to speak. I'd like to ask you all--is God in this house?"

"I consider that an insult!"
shouted Henry Junior.

"He can't speak--he's a guest
in my housel" the dootor once more repeated.

I was watching
the reaction of the Forum members. I wanted to see if this demonstration was
revealing to them--was showing them how tyrannical the doctor was, that he must
have something to fear, something he wanted to cover up, which he thought might
come out in open discussion.

Amazingly enough, no one came
to my defense. They sat petrified, as H.C.
maintained his protective position, holding off the intended attackers.

Realizing
that I had gone as far as I could in establishing that Martha and I had no fear
of the doctor and no respect for the type of authority he was exercising over
the Forum members, I went back to Martha, and the two of us left the auditorium.

Thereafter,
for FIVE CONTINUOUS YEARS, we attended every Sunday Forum meeting, without
exception, remaining only for a complete reading of the New Revelation papers
to show our continuing interest in the material itself, and then leaving at
intermission. We did not stay for the doctor's question and answer period, indicating
a total lack of respect for or fear of him personally, and also demonstrating
that he had no power to hurt or destroy us or anyone else ... and that the doctor
and his "ruling body" did not know how to cope with this situation. Help was
obviously not coming from any higher source. All threats had been the doctor's
own conniving and pretense.

All this
time, we sat pretty much by ourselves, most members avoiding personal contact.
They just could not understand why we had not been struck dead. In the interim,
Ben Deane, disillusioned and threatened with blindness, committed suicide by
shooting himself; the son of Henry Junior also committed suicide due to unhappy
home conditions. There was no evidence that exposure to these spiritual messages
had made Forum members any better humans. Less than a dozen Forum members, including
Mrs. Anna Gobler, made friendly overtures toward us. But they kept us informed
of Forum activities. They chose not to resign from the Forum in protest so they
could keep in touch with the unusual Forum material.

As for us, we felt that the
extraordinary nature of some of the writings gave proof of a high spiritual
source, even though we now knew we could never endorse the bookwhen
it was finally published, because of editorial liberties that we were sure had
been taken with it.

The mystery
of the author of The New Revelation Book remained. It was published anonymously
in 1955, as though dictated by a host of higher intelligences. We, however,
came upon a clue as to who the human instrument might be--and he was not the
stockbroker, which story had served as a "cover" for so long. He was a person
very close to the doctor, one who might have been least suspected, a self-effacing,
quiet individual.

We left
Chicago in May, 1947, to take up residence in the wilds of the beautiful Ozark
hills. It was a great release from the tension-packed years of dedication to
a project that may or may not have been worth all the pain and sacrifice. Then
again, it may well have been, if the telling of this experience helps stabilize
the thinking of others who have been involved in similar psychic adventures.

So as not
to depend on our judgment alone, when the book was published in 1955, we sent
copies to a number of people we considered outstanding metaphysical authorities,
well qualified to evaluate its contents.

Sir Hubert
Wilkins, whom we had interested in joining the Forum in our first enthusiasm
for the material and who had been impressed, as had we, during the time the
book was in preparation, distributed twelve copies to special friends. His report
to us was that he had received only one interested response,--"some seemed to
think it is a joke--novel--or something of the kind. Anyway, the response is
a good criterion of their real mind ability."

We found
that most readers who attempted to study the book did not get beyond the first
few pages, saying, "I don't understand it. It's too much for me," and "Who cares
how many planets or ascending mortals there are? What can that mean to us?"
Christian S. Ronne
(real name), a brilliant Frenchnnn, who has lived in this country for many years
and who was formerly associated with
Brentano's, New York, as head of their metaphysical book department, and later
head of a similar
department in Pickwick Bookshop, Hollywood, had this to say after a careful
study of The New Revelation Book.

"Since you asked for my opinion on this book, I can truthfully say, after
a great deal of time spent in meditation--over a year--most careful and
disinterested thought and study of many other similar books . . . that I
cannot subscribe to the authenticity of these superhuman entities that seemingly
were responsible for its inception. It is an impressive and powerful work
and evidently brought together a group of influential people, no doubt men
of good will, to finance its publication, in its present form. It is in
the same class as many other inspired books that have resulted in bringing
forth a new religion, or sect, due to the faith of tormented humans who
crave to learn the TRUTH.

"How much, if any,
of the original script was edited, I cannot venture to say. It is one of
the very few books published in the United States that is absolutely free
from typographical errors, and that is exceptional indeed in these times
of hurry and stress and great imperfection in the printing of books, even
so-called fine editions.

"Having read every
word of its contents, I am convinced that the uniformity of its style denies
the large number of its purported AUTHORS. This is aggravated considerably
by the fact that there were so many differently constituted superhuman entities
from vastly separated worlds and cosmoses who were employed to dictate their
special messages. Due to their tremendously different backgrounds from each
world, they would have used contrasting styles of expression. There simply
is too much uniformity in style, in vocabulary, and in point of view throughout
the thousands of pages of this book that deal with such a multiplicity of
various subjects. To counter
this criticism by saying that it was due to the fact that all these messages
had to be channeled through the one subconscious mind of the medium would
be a lame excuse. I am firmly convinced there was but one author, regardless
of how many entities may have inspired him or how far he might have traveled
on the several planes.

"There are some interesting
new theories that require a greal deal of thinking out. The THOUGHT
CONTROLLERS and the, role they play in the conditioning of the first inhabitants
on this earth, especially, are most arresting until one realizes that it
is a faulty and complicated way of saying that all men can receive the spirit
of God in their hearts when the time comes, and, when they are ready for
this momentous happening in their lives as mortals.

"The detailed delineation
of other strange beings is attempted and fills many, many pages. As for
the chronological history of the various races of mankind, it does not agree
with many top authorities. The story of Adam and Eve, and the geographic
allocation are also quite new and most original, especially in reference
to Eve and the Serpent. It is ludicrous ... gauche!

"In conclusion, this
book with all its tremendous array of new facts, does not explain the First
Cause, which still remains unsolved, and the intrinsic difference between
the Absolute and the Relative worlds, the Kingdom of God and its Creation,
and the Kingdom of Man and its creation.

"All wise men, inspired
men of God, have always and will always learn and then understand that TRUTH
is extremely simple and can never be found through the Intellect, but only
through the Heart. It is far, far better to hold one's tongue than to babble
meaninglessly in the market place."

The reader should know
that when I employed Mr. Ronne to make an
exhaustive study of The New Revelation Book, I gave him no information whatsoever except that it purportedly
came through a "sleeping subject." I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be prejudiced
in
any way in forming his opinion. Dr. Norton had contended that The New Revelation
Book would speak for itself, and I was determined to give it every opportunity
to do so. The same procedure was applied in my arrangements with my scientist
friend, Adolph Thies (real name), whose comments follow.

"So, I read The New Revelation and I could give my opinion in just
one single word ... but I dare not. Firstly, because I do not want to appear
biased, and secondly, because I do not want to hurt your feelings. Honestly,
Harold, I am very sorry to say to you that I failed complety to find the
"profundity" and I cannot help it if this makes me
a heel.

"On the whole, The New Revelation is of no help. All the "revelations"
add to the already too great burden of compulsory belief which is now breaking
the back of religion. Yet, assuming that all the New Revelation presentation
is true, what, then, does it offer? There is a central autocratic authority
hopelessly entangled in a conflict between the Infinite and the Finite,
its nature being explained with a host of phrases of adoration. All of it
is functioning in a mountain of bureaucracy loaded with orders of Over and
Under and In-Between Beings. The very few objectors in this setup have been
interned. All that ever was and ever will be, bearing a distinct flavor
of English terminology and, sorry to note, ideology, bringing to mind the
possibility that an Indian or Chinese patriarch might view the promise of
his exalted future with considerable
reservation.

"T'he anonymity of the work puts its very birth under an onerous
cloud. I think the work is not only erroneous, it is fraudulent. I think
the people behind this New Revelation movement are trying to impose a new
religion on the masses
and are attempting a "piggy-back ride" on the Christian religion with the
new life of Jesus story to do it.

"Strangely enough,
not one of the 'whole gang' has the slightest inkling of the dawn of the
atomic age. Please note how The New Revelation always comes up with
precise figures when it is safe to do so. A cycle in The New Revelation
can never be proved wrong if a phenomenon to which it applies cannot
be proved.

"At this point I am
upset enough to point, and point again, to the many samples of monstrous
creations of wishful thinking which have deluded mankind."

All over the world there
are psychics who, through use of the Ouija Board or automatic writing or direct
voice or trance mediumship, are producing inspirational as well as factual material,
which they interpret or have been told is coming from higher spiritual beings
or sources, and which has led them to believe they have established an exclusive
"pipeline" to God.

Usually
these people, many sincere and dedicated, have attracted a faithful following,
who have been guardedly jealous of this knowledge that has given them a privileged
feeling that they have been favored over most humans.

Mary Margaret
Wilson (real name) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a highly developed woman, wrote
us recently her concern over the trend of things in the psychic world--the development
of appealing but actually dangerous philosophies under the guise of Light and
Truth, led by well-meaning and often deluded mediumistic men and women who are
receiving messages and direction from higher sources, even purportedly from
Jesus Himself.

These followers
and their leaders have been told that they are the "chosen ones," selected to
help save the world as well as themselves in the terrible destruction which
is soon to engulf the earth.

"So many of the people
involved in these groups," says M.M.W. have
become caught up in a force which has taken a very strong hold on their
lives. They don't make a move without 'consulting spirit.' They follow some
of the most ridiculous instructions. While they may have good intentions,
it doesn't prove anything as far as their spirituality goes--it only proves
that they will blindly follow instructions. These people are entrapped in
an occult force--not a spiritual force. And this is a point which I think
it is very important to get across. How to recognize the difference between
the occult and the spiritual forces.

"Quite some time ago,
a psychic lady I know was caught up in such an occult force. Strangely enough,
it was not a force which was received by her directly but by another person
with whom she was friendly and sat in meditation. The entity came through
the other person. It soon developed into the wildest tale you can ever imagine
by the time they were through. True, the messages were sprinkled with many
wonderful thoughts and how much good would come when they traveled all over
the world as missionaries of the Lord.

"When I had an opportunity
to read some of the messages, I learned that the entity had introduced himself
as the 'Lama Dalai.' I immediately mentioned that they should check the
encyclopedia for the proper title usage. They even refused to do that. The
entity also presented himself as a dazzling spiritual being who came without
light, because since he was of the 'highest' of God's beings, they couldn't
stand his light. They were so adamant that their messages were coming from
just such a high spiritual being that without question they followed whatever
instructions they were given,

"They started to give
away many of their possessions on the instructions of the entity. In fact,
I still have an end table which was given to me by these people. I watched
the situation develop to a point where the lady involved became nervous
and distraught. She lost weight and looked
haggard. When they were finally caught up in the heights of great expectation,
the blow was struck and the moment of truth finally arrived. These people
came to realize that they had been made the fool. No great... amount of
harm was done in this case, but I know of others where harm was perpetrated,
and I am sure that your files reveal far more than I could ever surmise.

"But in this case, there was the same idea put forth. The entity tells that
he is a very high spiritual force; they are chosen to perfom a grand mission;
they will receive instructions as they go along (almost like a soap opera).
And they all seem to have the common message that they are to go out and
speak to people to get others on 'the right track.' All of the nonspiritual
experiences follow this same pattern.

"Many years ago, when I first became interested in extrasensory perception,
my guidance cautioned me not to become a 'lost soul of the mind.' I puzzled
about that phrase and never really understood what point was being made
until I observed what happens when people submit to these forces without
using their own good sense and investigate. This is what you stress in all
your books--for people to use caution and to investigate. How much wiser
people would be if they just followed that bit of advice.

"It has always amazed me what people are willing to accept from an occult
force. If a man walked into their living room and immediately started to
tell them how great he was and spoke in lofty terms about himself, they
would probably think he was an 'ass.' However, they don't have a bit of
difficulty swallowing it from a nonphysical entity. It must be an ego trip,
too, because the messages always have flattering words about the recipients
of the messages. I strongly feel it is very necessary for people to sort
out the real from the unreal at this critical time in our earth's history.

"If some of these blind followers of these dubious groups would
stop for a minute and reflect on what would happen if everyone in the world
did just what they are doing--blindly following instructions which are given
out piecemeal, not knowing why they are doing certain things--they could
reach no other conclusion but that the world would be in a state of utter
chaos. Of course, they usually come back with the retort that it is a way
of life for "them," but I have always thought that the essence of a spiritual
life is for everyone. The results of their guidance also impinges itself
on the lives of other people--sometimes to the point of meddling--so it
really never is confined to a way of life for them only."

Our mail, as M.M.W. has surmised, is increasingly
filled with tragic reports of misguided men and women
who have placed their faith in such occult practices as she
had described and we have experienced, only to have suffered disillusionment, often resulting in impairment of
health in body and mind.

Robert von Gunten (real name) of New Midway,
Maryland, who has devoted many years to the counseling
of men and women seeking self-development, has this to
say:

"I believe
the hardest thing on me as I endeavor to make a contribution to this field is
the encounters with individuals and members of some groups who are well meaning
but SELF-DELUDED. Other than being direct and honest with them, I am many times
not sure of their approval,for no one seems to want to be told of a delusion.
It is difficult for me to understand why and how educated, sincere adults can
be so deluded and blind. And what is just as bad is that others join with them
in accepting and following the delusions. Certain things have been given me
to know, but none of them need to be covered up in a maze of 'gobbly-de-gook,'
egotism, or Savior complexes.

"I believe the
same God Force is in all people, and the difference in
people is their degree of choice in the direction and acceptance of that Power."
To all of which we agree.

A SAD COMMENTARY

It must be said here that
before Harry Loose passed on in the fall of 1943, he had sadly commented,
in one of his last communications, that the Great Book, which he had originally
recommended so highly, had been so altered because of mortal perversities and
shortcomings that the project had become almost a total failure.

At that
time, his statement was shocking to us and we were not yet ready to accept it.
But, as things progressed, when we saw how little spiritual development came
to the members and what a dictatorship existed, we were forced to conclude that
Harry had been right.

Now, thirty
years later, as we view the unhappy aftermath, we have learned of what is happening
and has happened to some Forum members who devoted time, money, and talents
in an effort to have The New Revelation Book translated into foreign
languages, to promote its sale, and to encourage the formation of study groups.
They did this only to run into prosecution by the autocratic board of directors
of the New Revelation Foundation, overzealous in their determination to protect
the copyright and the "integrity" of The New Revelation Book, even to
the point of excommunicating those who offend them. It is possible that
the copyright itself is not valid because it is not copyrighted in any individual's
name. This point may have to be decided, one day, in a court of law.

Meanwhile,
three Forum members, probably more, have already sampled the legal wrath of
the Now Revelation Foundation. Dr. Fritz Handel, Paris member, translated and
had published a French edition. Jeff Bracken, one of the original Forum members,
financed a Spanish translation
and published pamphlets containing passages from The New Revelation Book
for public distribution. Both men have become involved in litigation as
a consequence, charged with violation of the copyright and other legal and ethical
indiscretions. Their cases are still in the courts and Jeff Bracken has been
made the victim of a "kangaroo court" proceeding, tried in absentia, found guilty,
and excommunicated from the New Revelation Society. He is still defying the
mandate. Clayton Prince, on the west coast, who has quoted freely from The
New Revelation Book, had a suit for copyright infringement brought against
him, wherein he permitted the New Revelation Foundation to take judgment. All
of this underscores the tyrannical nature of the board of directors and their
fanatical religious procedures. If The New Revelation Book was hopefully
designed to serve all mankind, why this overprotection?

Through the years, many of the New Revelation followers have remained steadfastly faithful, held together
more by fear than by love--fear that severance from The
New Revelation Society might mean loss of identity or
existence in the Hereafter.

Floyd Winters,
who took the lead at one time in protesting against the things he felt to be
wrong, and who capitulated at the time of the so-called "Lucifer rebellion,"
has since then devoted himself to creation of a brilliantly conceived "Concordex
of The New Revelation Book." It is a colossal achievement, which had
to have required some years in the making. To scan its amazing outline of subjects
covered in The New Revelation Book would make one feel that this authoritative
list of contents must refer to a truly revelatory Second Bible.

I have
the deepest admiration for Floyd, whom I have not seen or heard from since we
left Chicago, for the example he has set in loyalty and the enormous energy
he has expended in behalf of the New Revelation project. I only regret for him
and for all of us that this venture has not turned out as idealistically hoped
for.

For some
time after this disillusioning experience Martha and I were disposed to look
upon it as "love's labor lost," but the added perspective of more than thirty
years has caused us to see compensatory values. We realized, for example, that
this experience had freed us for all time from fear of religious persecution
and concepts and regulations laid down by other humans in an attempt to dictate
our conduct and thinking. This type of fanatical psychic practice is widespread
today and is enslaving
many innocent people who have been seeking answers to their mental and spiritual
problems.

While we, as stated, cannot
acceptor endorse the book
and its contents, it is fair to concedethat we found some
of its material thought-provoking. Perhaps you have had
a similar experience with a group in support of a "psychic
revelation," who have also felt or still feel they have established
a "pipeline to God." If this is the case, it might
be wise for you to remember that anything that goes
through the mind of man is fallible and subject to possible
error or fabrication. For this reason, we suggest that you
question any purported "revelation," however, impressive,
whose mediums or sponsors declare it to be "the infallible
word of God or His representatives."